November 30, 2009

THE ARMOUR GROUP

Building envelope

Pre-cast concrete panels add LEED points, cut costs

PETER KENTER

correspondent

Halifax’s Armour Group was faced with a challenge. Five of its developments in Dartmouth — The Park Place Hotel and office towers Park Place I through IV—shared similar aesthetics, due to their brick exteriors.

By the time Park Place V, a five-storey, 125,000-square-foot office building, became more than a gleam in the developer’s eye, the cost of matching the other building exteriors had increased significantly.

“Instead of brick, we decided to use architectural pre-cast concrete with thinset brick cladding, which would give us the look of brick and a connectivity with the other buildings at a lower cost,” said Stuart McCrea, director of leasing and marketing with The Armour Group Limited, a family-owned business that not only develops and manages the properties it owns, but builds them as well.

The project is aiming to become the first multi-tenant office building built to LEED standards under the LEED for New Construction (NC) Program Version 1.0. in the Atlantic region.

Choosing locally sourced panels supplied by Strescon Limited in nearby Bedford, N.S. helped to add to the case that the company had met LEED application goals.

THE ARMOUR GROUP

Pre-cast panels were installed atop the concrete structure of the Park Place in Dartmouth, N.S. in only five days.

The building began with a concrete framework.

“Armour Construction is a concrete builder,” said McCrea. “We believe that the use of reinforced concrete is the mark of a superior building. Our company has been in the business since 1972 and we continue to own and manage every building we’ve developed, so we know exactly what we’re looking for.”

The concrete mix used in the building specified the addition of flyash, a by-product of the coal burned in the region, to replace some of the Portland Cement typically used.

That not only strengthened the structure, said McCrea, but also helped to make a case for LEED that the builder had used higher recycled content.

Architectural firm Fowler Bauld & Mitchell Ltd. of Halifax designed the building and Strescon then produced an electronic mock-up of the brick finish.

With client approval, the company produced a carefully mixed sample that replicated the appearance of the brick in the other buildings.

Production on the 200 panels required for the job began at the start of 2008 and was completed in May of that year.

Each of the panels used in construction was insulated with spray foam backing to help ensure an R-20 insulation value.

“The panels were lifted into place and bolted to the structure using angle joints,” McCrea said..

“It took only about five days to complete the entire exterior cladding job. It would have taken months to complete the same job using actual brick.”

Pre-cast concrete architectural details, including column covers, bases, caps and spandrels completed the look of the building envelope.

Green features of the completed building include the use of excavated rock crushed and re-used on site, low-flow urinals and water fixtures, a pulse-fired natural gas boiler and the use of 20 per cent recycled materials, including the flyash used in the concrete.

The building was opened to tenants at the beginning of 2009.

McCrea said that the company is encouraged by the number of new tenants leasing space, considering the economy.

“We intend to keep pushing for LEED standards in all of our new buildings,” he said.

“We believe organizations will see the value in leasing space in a building that protects the environment and convey a message about their own commitment to environmental responsibility. “

He said he believes that LEED will become the benchmark for all good buildings going forward.

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